New House Mate
by ArtemisApollo97
Summary: And she doesn't stand for any nonsense! Written mostly because I felt like the Penguins could do with a bit of a... feminine touch, in a warped sense.
1. Chapter 1

**I do not own Penguins of Madagascar, DreamWorks does. Apologies if they are a little OC, I've never written Penguins before. I have two OCs, you'll meet one in a minute.**

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><p>"Skipper!" Private froze from his training and pointed frantically. "Alice!"<p>

"Cute and cuddly, boys!" The four penguins fell into a line and waved casually. The zoo had closed for the day- why was Alice still here?

The zookeeper dropped the wooden plank to form a bridge and cautiously climbed over the fence. In one hand, she held a pet carrier case, its contents obscured by a newspaper lining and a blanket. Alice huffed as she set the cargo down, wiping an arm across her brow.

"Here you go, _penguins_," She spat the word with all the contempt she could muster against animals, "a new friend to do whatever weird things you freaks do with." She unlocked the cage and left, pulling back the plank with a ragged sigh.

Private took a step forward, eager to meet the new arrival.

"Private!" His commanding officer reprimanded. "That could be an enemy spy in there, armed to the teeth with all sorts of dangerous mayhem!" Skipper looked a little too intrigued at that with the usual paranoia; the devilish glint in his eyes was enough to send Private back to his place in the line.

"We don't have teeth." The four of them froze in place, peering into the case. "And I certainly don't have _all sorts of dangerous mayhem_." The voice mimicked. Skipper bristled, drawing himself up to his full height.

"Show yourself!" He ordered.

"Alright, alright, keep your beak on." The blanket disappeared from view and a white, abstract orb rolled out.

"Egg!" Rico acknowledged, flapping his flippers. "Girl!" He added as the egg's mother stepped out, blinking in the sunlight. Their new house guest regarded them coolly with her ice blue eyes, deftly nudging her egg onto her feet without stooping or looking away. Rico garbled, waving his flippers about his head.

"Right you are, Rico." Kowalski agreed. "Ma'am, I believe it is the job of the male penguin-"

"To look after the egg, I know."

"Then, if you don't mind me asking," Private intervened, "why have you got it?" She sighed miserably, clearly reluctant to say more than the following:

"I got separated from my rookery following a big storm. Wild life preservers took me in and I laid this two weeks ago." She nudged her egg slightly with her foot.

"What's your name?" Skipper demanded dubiously, stepping forward and motioning to his men to be quiet.

"Fuchsia."

"Aaaah!" Julian landed in their midst, using Private as a shield. "I demand to know the whereaboutsness of the dreaded Foosa!"

"No, no, _Fuchsia._ Not… whatever you said. Just call me Fiz."

"Fish!" Rico scrambled about excitedly.

"_Fiz_." She corrected impatiently. "Heavens above, you men are thick." The three penguins gasped in shock, looking to their leader. Skipper did not take sexism lightly.

However, Skipper didn't get a chance to say anything. Julian had squealed in excitement and had darted forward.

"You have a J.J!"

"A what?"

"Uh, _duh_." He pointed at the egg. "The heir to my kingly kingdom! I am needing your J.J."

"Ringtail!" Skipper scolded.

"You try to take this egg and I'll boot you back to whatever _sewer_ you crawled from." Julian recoiled and then stood up to his fullest height.

"That is no way to be speaking to your king!"

"I'm sorry, I'm not in the Lost and Desperate Kingdom." Skipper chuckled as Julian gaped at her, outraged and dumbfounded.

"I like her already."

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><p><strong>Sorry it's short, but it's all I've got at the minute. I do have ideas jotted down in note-form, but still trying to write them up. Thoughts? :D <strong>


	2. Chapter 2

For a week, Fuchsia remained topside and oblivious to the Penguin HQ just below her feet. She point-blank refused for Private, Rico and/or Kowalski to look after the egg so she could get a good night's sleep or just five minutes rest. Kowalski even offered to make her an incubator- which led her to believe there was a mad scientist's lab somewhere in the habitat- but she politely declined. Wherever that lab was, there were many explosions. She had quickly cottoned on that Kowalski's inventions often backfired.

"Skipper?"

"Yes, Private?" The younger penguin wrung his flippers, anxiously glancing at the ceiling. "What is it, Private? I'm in the middle of winning." Skipper was in a high-stakes chess game with Kowalski- if he lost, he had to agree to trial run one of Kowalski's gizmos.

"It gets cold at night, sir, and Fuchsia is up there."

"Penguins _like _the cold, Private." Skipper reminded him, moving his rook three to the left and taking Kowalski's knight.

"But eggs are supposed to stay _warm_." Private countered.

"Ugh, _fine_. But if she causes any trouble, it's on _your_ head." Private smiled gratefully, saluting and thanking him. He darted up the ladder and popped out of the ground, startling Fuchsia from her slumber.

"Penguin-mole hybrids. I've seen everything."

"What?"

"Nevermind. Can I help you?"

"No, but I can help you." She sighed and started to speak, but Private cut across. "Skipper says you can come down here and keep your egg warm." She eyed him suspiciously.

"Well, what's down there?"

"You'll see. Come on!" Fuchsia regarded him through narrowed eyes. "I assure you it is perfectly safe."

"Kaboom!"

"_Ricoooo_!"

"And that's the fifth microwave this week." Kowalski sighed.

"Sounds it." Fuchsia smirked.

"Please! If you're cold, your egg's cold too!"

"You've got a point there, bud. And I want to see that explosion; it sounded _awesome_." She shuffled forward, keeping her egg in place. She allowed Private to take it and put it safely inside and then dropped down. "Whoa, Penguin Central." The door swung open as Fuchsia secured her egg and Marlene strolled in.

"Hi guys!" She called. "Oh, and girl and egg." She smiled at Fuchsia. "They finally let you down here then?"

"Not what I imagined."

"You told her about our secret HQ?" Private asked.

"I _hinted_ that you guys were a bit… extreme. But it's cool, she knew nothing of your little 'missions'."

"Hey!" Kowalski protested. "No air-quoting!" Marlene shrugged good-naturedly.

Marlene had visited Fuchsia over the past week, having initially bought a Hello-neighbour gift of fresh sardines and flowers. They had quickly become good friends and the otter had recounted some of the more interesting stories surrounding the Penguins.

Skipper returned, Rico in tow.

"Drop and give me fifty!" The commanding officer ordered. Rico grumbled, but obliged, starting his fifty push-ups.

"Fifty? Pfft! If that was the fifth microwave this week, make it a hundred." Rico groaned and garbled complaints. Fuchsia's eyes glinted cheekily as she folded her flippers expectantly. Skipper looked from her to his soldier and back again.

"That's hardly necessary."

"Oh, you're right! Two hundred sounds much better!" Rico collapsed, exhausted at the mere thought of it. "I thought you said your men were in _tip-top physical condition_." Marlene sniggered at the crude Skipper impersonation, stifling her giggles under Skipper's stink eye.

"I give the orders around here so I'll decide how many push-ups they'll do. Rico- that was four not fifty! Start again!"

"Why don't you just tell him that if he destroys another microwave, he'll be doing two hundred?" Rico shook his head.

"She has a point, Skipper. Rico doesn't want to do two hundred, so I doubt he'll risk another microwave kaboom." Marlene intervened, smiling approvingly at Fuchsia.

"Alright, _fine_." He turned back to Rico. "Rico, one more microwave incident and you'll do the two hundred, as the _girls_ said."

"You got something against girls?" Fuchsia demanded, light-hearted teasing aside. Skipper half-turned to stare her out, not backing down.

Neither did she.

It became one of the most intense staring matches known to penguin and otter kind. Neither backed down, neither blinked and neither were going to. "I asked you a question." Fuchsia said slowly. "Have. You. Got. Something. Against. Girls?"

"I don't need a _girl_ telling me how to do my job!"

"Well, clearly you do!"

"This is a well-oiled commando penguin force!" Skipper stood up straighter, prouder. "I _do_ know how to run it."

"Oooh, shocker." They glowered at each other in silence for another minute before both had to turn away and blink, rubbing at their eyes and calling the other all sorts of names. Kowalski covered Private's ears to block out the worst of it.

Rico jabbed at them and gargled something.

"I've no idea who won." Kowalski replied. "It'll probably be best to keep these two apart though."

"Oh, don't do that!" Marlene whined. "If anyone's going to keep Skipper on his toes, it's Fuchsia."


	3. Chapter 3

"Rico, give our guest some soundproofing." Rico obliged, barfing up a pair of thick, spotted ear muffs. Fuchsia caught them, but held them at flipper-length. As much as Rico's… _gift_ intrigued her, it also appalled her. First of all- it was physically impossible for him to store all that in his stomach or whichever dark depths his supplies came from. Second- wherever they did come from couldn't be all that nice, so she wasn't likely to put these ear muffs on.

"They're perfectly safe!" Private said a little too loudly. The four boys had their own pair of ear muffs. The lemurs were having one of their _parties_ tonight. It didn't take a genius to say that Fuchsia was _not_ happy.

"I've got a better idea." Fuchsia tossed aside the soundproofing and smirked at Rico. "Got any dynamite?"

"What are you doing?" Skipper asked cautiously, intercepting the stick of dynamite as it leapt from the bottomless pit of danger.

"Now, that'd spoil the surprise!" Fuchsia snatched the dynamite from the commanding officer and ordered Private to watch her egg for a minute. Private was thrilled- it took him mere seconds to collect the egg. Seconds, in which, Fuchsia had disappeared.

A minute later, the loud and offensive music was cut off mid-beat by an almighty explosion and Julian's wailing. Mort arrived, also crying, and landing on his face after falling through the hatch.

"King Julian's boomy box is the wrong kind of boomy!" He sobbed, throwing himself at Skipper's feet.

"Rico, Kowalski- go and get that crazy female under control!"

"I am perfectly under control, thank you." Fuchsia dusted her wings on her front and retrieved her egg from Private, thanking him for the brief egg-sitting. "Now, I believe it's lights out for you _big strong men._" She mocked them a little by flexing her flippers and deepening her voice in what had quickly become known as 'The Skipper'.

Julian arrived then, in one of his 'freaky out' modes.

"She kaboomed my boomy box!" He raged. "Your king is demanding repercussionings!"

"Stand down, Ringtail." Skipper sighed. "We'll deal with your _boomy box_ in the morning." The lemur king leapt forward and grabbed Skipper by the head, enforcing a fierce staring competition. "Ringtail!" Skipper growled warningly.

"I, as your king, am needing a new boomy box! Right now!"

"I did tell you to turn it off." Fuchsia replied casually, flicking a speck of dust from her egg. "But you didn't, so I _kaboomed_ it."

"You can do a Julian too!" Private giggled.

"I'm quite good at impersonations, even if I do say so myself." She winked cheekily at Private. "Gov'nor." Skipper snorted, trying not to look as if he was amused by her teasing the private- he was doing his best to make it clear that Fuchsia was an inconvenience at the best of times. Everyone else could see that this wasn't really the case.

"Hello!" Julian frantically waved his arms, stamping his feet. "My boomy box! It is exploded-ded all over my kingdom!"

"Have you tried the latest thing cool people do?" Fuchsia quizzed. Julian froze, curiosity momentarily breaking through his temper. "It's called _sleeping_. Good night." She clapped once and the lights went out. Calmly, she shifted to her corner, wrapping her egg securely in the soft, fleecy blankets Marlene had provided before settling down on her own pile of bedding.

Private managed to quell Julian until the morning and they all retired to their bunks. Rico kept snickering to himself and whispering to his doll. Kowalski and Private fell asleep instantly.

Skipper waited until Rico had dozed off as well before sitting up and looking over at their housemate. She had her back to them, but she was humming, so she clearly wasn't asleep. "I know you're watching me." She declared randomly, not moving to face him. "You've an intense stare sometimes. Especially when you're thinking."

"You do know Ringtail won't let up until he's sorted out his accursed noise maker."

"So? That spoilt brat should have his so-called reality set straight."

"We've tried. It's easier just to humour him."

"Taking the easy way out, are we?" She rolled over to smile sweetly at him, her eyes glinting sarcastically. "Now, I thought that was something a leader as fine and up-standing as yourself never did."

"There are always last resorts."

"Uh-huh." She nodded, smile still in place. Annoyance started to tick over Skipper's temper. "Hey, you fry your own fish. Not my problem."

"Well, it is your problem, sister. You completely demolished his stuff."

"It _was_ fun. You should have seen the explosion!" A chuckle rumbled through Skipper before he realised it. He cleared his throat to try and cover it, but she had noticed. "What is it with you pretending to hate me?"

"I'm not pretending."

"Oh, yeah. I forgot about your amazing _acting_ skills." Skipper ignored her and lay back down, turning his back on her. "Night night, Skipper."

"Night." He grunted.

* * *

><p>In the morning, Fuchsia had them all sit at the table as she wanted a 'word' with them.<p>

"Right, no putting my egg through any of your military mumbo-jumbo. I heard about Eggy or J.J or whatever he's called now and I'm not having mine turn out the same thank you very much." She eyed them all suspiciously. "Are we clear?"

"Yes ma'am." Kowalski, Private and Rico agreed. Skipper scoffed. Fuchsia glared at him.

"Military training will do it some good! You should be jumping at the chance."

"No."

"Ah, well, suit yourself." Skipper shrugged. "But what if they're out and about and all alone? And then- _ninjas_!" Skipper leapt up onto the table, swiping violently at Fuchsia. She didn't even flinch, watching him, unimpressed. "Alright, fine. Be like that."

"I will."

"Your loss."

"Not really."

"Look!" Private interrupted, sliding down from his seat. He proceeded to hop from one foot to the other excitedly, giggling. "Look!" He insisted. "It's hatching!"

"Early…" Kowalski mused.

"No, that's about right."

"But my calculations state that-"

"No jibber-jabber, Kowalski!" Skipper commanded. "We don't need that ruining this precious moment!"

"Aww, never knew you could be sentimental." Fuchsia teased.

"I'm just full of surprises." She just hummed and they all hurried to the egg. The crack in it expanded and a small foot popped out. Private cooed a greeting as the rest of the egg snapped away.

A fluffy infant looked up at them curiously. "Oops." Fuchsia gently turned the child the right way up. "My bad." She sat and her baby tumbled into her flippers, snuggling up to her for warmth. "Good boy." She soothed, patting his head.

"A boy?"

"Yep. Now I'm even more outnumbered."

"What are you going to call him?" Private asked, bubbling with eagerness as he waved at the infant. He was sure the new mother sent Skipper a triumphant and cheeky look.

"Petey."

"I hate you."


	4. Chapter 4

**This chapter is going to be short, so sorry about that!**

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><p>Petey was a right sweetheart, everyone loved him. Fuchsia was really protective of him and the two were never seen apart. Julian had only taken a week to understand that Petey was not his J.J or heir or a lemur or anything to do with him.<p>

The best bit though?

This:

"Dada!" Petey toddled after Skipper, his flippers out to the side to balance himself. "Dada!" He demanded. Skipper hopped around him. "Dada…" Petey was getting increasingly distressed and was now closed to tears.

"No, no, laddie, I ain't your dada. Destroy that video, soldier!" He barked. Rico startled and threw the camera to Fuchsia. Petey grabbed hold of Skipper's wing ad smiled up at him. Skipper managed to free himself carefully, but he still put the infant on the verge of crying. "Give me that camera!" Rico barfed and a bow landed on the camera. A gift.

"It's mine now. And you can't destroy this as you promised not to meddle with my things, remember? Penguin honour." Skipper scowled at her, but didn't get to respond as Petey fell forward and started crying. Right at Skipper's feet.

"Oh no, don't cry. There is no room for waterworks in this unit." Fuchsia took over.

"Mama!" Petey let his mother hold him, pointing accusingly at Skipper, sniffling. "Dada!"

"Don't worry, bud." Fuchsia assured, settling her bairn on her feet. "Mama will look after you."

"Dada!"

"I am not his dada!" Skipper retorted briskly. Petey waved his small flipper at his 'Dada!' "Nope. Manfreedi and Johnson-"

"Oh, here we go." Fuchsia rolled her eyes. "Is there anything Manfreedi and Johnson _didn't_ do?" Skipper contemplated her for a moment, flippers behind his back.

"Lived." He replied curtly. Fuchsia didn't respond to that, staring him out instead. Skipper didn't stoop to entertain these games this time, ordering his men topside for a training session. Petey pointed after them insistently, looking up at his mother with pleading, baby blues. Fuchsia sighed. She was going to have to overcome this look Petey did- too cute to refuse. He just like to watch the big penguins train, flipping and fighting and being _awesome_.

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><p><strong>Sorry it's short. I was going to add more, but I wanted to put it in a separate chapter. <strong>


	5. Chapter 5

The zoo opened, the weather cool with weak sunshine filtering through the fluffy clouds. Visitors swarmed in and it didn't take them long to discover the new baby penguin.

"He's so cute!" A young girl gushed, tugging on her father's hand and trying to point the fluffy infant out. Petey didn't like all the attention and hid behind his mother. She had taken up the cute and cuddly routine, no problem- Petey was still adjusting.

"Military training would give him back bone." Skipper hissed from the corner of his beak.

"Naff off." Fuchsia muttered back, maintaining her smile.

"Just saying. Men, adorable penguin pastimes!" The four penguins immediately started jumping about, diving, swimming, chasing each other, playing. The crowd started to throw fish, but a few were pointing at a perplexed Fuchsia and muttering to themselves.

Private slid up to his friend, waving at Petey. He explained that if you were a cute and cuddly penguin, the humans would feed you fish. One landed on his head as he said that and he offered it to her.

"No thank you." She glanced around. "What do I do?"

"Just play with Petey. He's really cute, so we might get extra fish!" Private beamed. He stumbled away and dived in to the water to team up with Rico and be adorable. Fuchsia watched them curiously for a moment, distracted by Petey nudging her in the back.

"Mama…" He wailed, glancing anxiously around at all the humans.

"It's OK, Petey." Fuchsia assured. "They'll give us food." Petey looked up curiously at that.

"F-Foo?" He tried.

"Foo_d_." She corrected kindly, stressing the 'd'. "Yummy food." Petey sent another look at the people, still nervous, but hungry too. "Come on." She gently pushed him forward, urging him into a waddle. Skipper jumped from the water and shook himself dry; an idea formed in Fuchsia's mind. "Go and see Dada." Petey brightened at that and hurried forward, flippers out to balance himself.

"Dada!" He called. Skipper ended up playing Tag with the infant- Fuchsia constantly backed away, diving or sliding, leaving him no choice but to keep the boy from harm.

Sighing, he stopped. Petey giggled and caught up with him. "Dada!" He said happily, hugging Skipper. The humans 'aawwww'ed and it was like the heavens had opened- fish rained down, glorious and delicious.

"See?" Fuchsia grinned, selecting a small fish to feed her son. "If you're not mean to him, you get more food."

"Yeah, that's great." Skipper managed to shake Petey off, but the child had food now and didn't seem to mind. Fuchsia picked some extra small fish and put them into a pile before looking Skipper up and down. "Now what?"

"You love him really. I mean," She gestured at Petey, "how can you not love that adorableness!"

"It's true, Skipper." Kowalski added. "You seem to tolerate Petey more than you did." Rico gabbled in agreement and then went for the fish, disappearing into one of the piles of sea food. Private snickered to himself.

"Spit it out, soldier." Skipper ordered briskly.

"I think you might be getting a soft spot for him!" Private replied quickly, giving a stifled, amused laugh into his flippers. Skipper's eyes didn't leave him and he quelled his humour. "Sorry, Skipper. Misju-"

"No, I think he's on to something there." Fuchsia cut across, smirking. "You like Petey _really_, don't you, Skipper?" The commanding officer glared at them all individually. Rico still hadn't emerged from his dinner and Petey was still pecking at his.

"As Private was going to say," He said firmly, "this is all a big misjudgement of your leader! That leads to insubordination and-"

"Save it." Fuchsia sighed. "Mr. Heart-of-Steel is too _jumped up_ to admit he's _wrong_." Skipper glowered at her. Fuchsia replied similarly.

"Vet!" Rico warned. His fish had vanished.

The penguins formed a line, Petey resting on his mother's feet for his mid-morning nap. He was just dozing off when both he and his mother were picked up and put in a pet carrier.

"Mama!" He cried, clinging to her ankle. She shushed him kindly, patting him on the head. He hid his face in her feathers and didn't see anything until he was pulled away from her. "Mama!" The cage door was still open. Petey struggled in the vet's hands, calling for her.

Anger sparked through her; Fuchsia leapt from the carrier and straight at the vet, knocking him back. Thankfully he didn't drop Petey, but he couldn't do anything else with a raging penguin mother on his head.

"Shawna!" That was a strange cry for help. Fuchsia didn't understand it until another vet struck her with a needle and she felt drowsy. _Shawna_ was another human, one who drugged penguins and put them in cages to 'sleep'.

The vet thanked his assistant. She was more intrigued with the baby penguin.

"Oh, he's the cutest thing _ever_!" She beamed. "But he's scared."

"We did just sedate his mother. He's not very old, so I doubt he's become self-reliant." Petey was raised until he was staring the vet in the face. "It is alright, little one." He promised. "We won't hurt." The vet set Petey on a large table. The young penguin could still see his mother, lying on her front and not trying to help him.

"Mama!" He cried, walking towards her. The vet laughed softly and picked him, putting him back in his place. Petey sniffled and tried again, but the man just kept moving him back.

"Now, now, young man. This won't take long; just hold still."

* * *

><p>"They're back!" Private announced. The vet had returned, but he wasn't carrying a carrier case this time. Just Petey. A very distraught Petey. He waddled right up to Skipper the second he was set down.<p>

"Dada!" He pointed accusingly at the retreating vet. "Mama!" He insisted, teary-eyed.

"Skipper, I think they've kept Fiz in." Kowalski commented.

"Do you think she's alright?" Private added, wringing his flippers fretfully.

"Only one way to find out. Move out!" His men obediently jumped into action, but Petey had other ideas. Skipper was _not_ leaving. He was going to stay here and let Petey sit on his feet and getting comfortable. "Look here, laddie. I run a highly trained military operation here. I've no time for goo-goo-ing babies. That team needs a Skipper!"

"Dada!"

"You've got no idea what I'm saying, do you?"

"Dada!" Skipper sighed. It was a long five three minutes, but the other three eventually returned.

"Report!" He commanded as they fell into line.

"Fuchsia is heavily sedated, Skipper." Kowalski answered. "Shouldn't last more than a few hours."

"Excellent work, men." They saluted.

"Um, permission to speak, sir?" Private asked.

"Granted."

"Petey is-"

"Highly stubborn. This was not my doing. Rico, crowbar." Rico obliged. Private dashed forward and intercepted the tool. "Private!"

"You can't, Skipper! You'll hurt him and yourself."

"I appreciate the concern Private, but I can't be on baby duty!"

"He can't be too troublesome, sir. Look." Skipper peered down and saw Petey had fallen asleep. His men bustled at the cuteness. "Save your cooing for another time. Private, take the little fluff ball below and-" Private giggled. "What's so funny, soldier?"

"Nothing, sir. I just think it's sweet that he's picked you over us to be his dada."

"And your point it?"

"You're clearly an excellent role model." Kowalski complimented.

"Yup yup!" Rico agreed.

"Role model or not, I won't stand for this!"

"But, sir, you are standing."

"That's not what I meant, Private!"


	6. Chapter 6

Fuchsia returned, groggy and disorientated, but highly ticked off. She did not appreciate the 'rough handling' the 'stupid humans' had used on Petey.

"It wasn't rough handling," Private started to explain. Fuchsia silenced him with a look.

"Where is Petey?" Private, Rico and Kowalski exchanged amused looks, stifling giggles. "What?" Fuchsia asked carefully, eyeing them all warily. She didn't want to find out that she had come back to a mutant baby or something. One psychotic penguin was enough, thank you very much.

"Well, in your absence, Petey has become rather attached to Skipper." Kowalski snickered. "He certainly has your stubbornness."

"As he should." Fuchsia said proudly. "But where is he?" They led her below, watching her expectantly as she processed what was going on. Then they did a double-take: this wasn't how they had left Skipper and Petey.

Skipper had been thoroughly annoyed at being stuck on 'baby duty' and Petey had been nice and comfortable perched on his dada's feet, sleeping peacefully.

Now, at the complete opposite end of the spectrum, Petey was wide awake and Skipper was lying on his stomach on the floor, crayon in flipper as he coloured with the infant. He was even smiling.

No-one said anything. Fuchsia's curiosity won out, however, and she cleared her throat. Skipper startled to his feet, looking down at the colouring book and the crayon he held; the latter he hid hastily behind his back.

"Hey, you're feeling better!"

"Duh."

"Excellent. You can take the fluff ball back now and-"

"Skipper." Fuchsia interrupted. "We're not blind."

"No, but you may be delusional."

"Granted," She replied without missing a beat, "but we'd have to have a pretty wild imagination to come up with you smiling." She paused. "Oh, and happily colouring with Petey."

"Mama!" Petey threw down his crayon and hurried over as fast as he could. Fuchsia caught him and he buried his face in her feathers, laughing.

"Yeah, I'm back." She smiled. Petey took her by the flipper and insistently dragged her over to look at his and 'Dada's' pictures.

* * *

><p>"Knock knock!"<p>

"'Lene!" Petey called. Marlene emerged from her water, landing inches away. "'Lene!" Petey repeated excitedly.

"There's my little buddy! Come to Aunty Marlene!" She held her paws out. "Come on!" She encouraged. Petey waddled forward and hugged the crazy otter. "There's my boy!" Marlene started playing peekaboo with her adopted nephew before remembering Fuchsia. "So, what brings you here? How did the vets go?"

"Oh, the vets wasn't all that, really."

"No, no! I heard you attacked the vet!"

"A bit, but-"

"Ooh, do tell."

"Petey was scared and I just... attacked him. Nothing to it really." Marlene started to say something, probably about to demand details. Fuchsia had a better story. "You know Petey calls Skipper his 'dada'?"

"Well, duh. It's so cute!" Marlene chucked Petey under the chin. "Aren't you, sweetie? Just an adorable ball of fluff, yes you are! Oh, uh, carry on, Fiz." Fuchsia shook her head at her friend's strange ways and explained the whole baby duty incident. "Wait, wait, wait. Wait." Marlene ordered, waving her paws to indicate silence right now. "Skipper?"

"I like to think of him as Mr. Supposedly-too-high-and-mighty-for-babies-unless-no-one-is-watching-and-even-then-I-try-to-deny-it."

"But we are talking about the same guy, right?" Fuchsia nodded and Marlene gaped.

"Breathe."

"Iknewit! IknewSkipperdidn'treallyhatePetey!"

"That's not breathing." Marlene started a series of long, deep breaths, but kept giggling at the thought of Skipper- the top-notch, heart of stone, penguin commando officer- lying on the floor without a care in the world, colouring with the young infant that adopted him as a father, albeit Skipper's reluctance at and denial of this.

"I need to go and see him!" Marlene exclaimed, dashing away. Fuchsia snickered to herself.

"Come on, Petey. Don't want to miss this."


End file.
